1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a medical apparatus, particularly a Continuous Ambulatory Hemofiltration Device.
2. Technical Background
The kidney has many vital functions which include removal of excessive water and electrolytes and removal of metabolic waste products. When the kidney fails to perform its functions, a patient will die unless he receives renal replacement therapy. The currently available renal replacement therapies are the following:
Renal transplantation. A shortage of graft kidneys makes this option limited. In addition, patients must be placed on expensive immunosuppressive medications that have a lot of many side effects, and patients must be regularly monitored. There are many contraindication of renal transplantation.
Peritoneal dialysis. This requires a large quantity of expensive fluids and other disposable materials. In addition, peritoneal dialysis has many complications, and the efficiency of the peritoneal membrane decreases markedly with time. This type of renal replacement therapy requires daily effort from the patient for fluid exchange.
Conventional hemodialysis. Large numbers of end stage renal failure patients receive conventional hemodialysis which requires a large number of nursing staff, and a lot of expensive fluids and disposables. In addition, patients must come to the hemodialysis unit about 3 times per week and be injected with two large needles in each hemodialysis session. Furthermore, this type of therapy has a lot of complications. In hemodialysis units, conventional hemofiltration can be performed but require even more expensive fluids and disposables.